Ambulance service support device, ambulance service support method, and program storage medium

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-001788, filed on Jan. 8, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

The present invention relates to a technology for supporting an ambulance crew at an emergency transport site.

At an emergency transport site, in some cases, it is difficult for an ambulance crew to acquire useful information, such as an identity of a person to be transported (sick and injured person), his/her regular hospital, whether he/she has a chronic disease and takes chronic medicine, and his/her medical history, at the time of transport because, for example, the person to be transported is unconscious. In such a case, because there is no or little information regarding the disease of the person to be transported, the ambulance crew may not be able to determine which treatment to give the person to be transported or which hospital to transport the person.

Reference Literature 1 (WO 2019/198358 A) discloses a technology for collecting personal medical information in a plurality of medical institutions to a collection server of a management center and managing the information. According to the technology disclosed in Reference Literature 1, for example, it is possible to acquire medical information of a person to be transported from the collection server in an ambulance by using identification information (patient number) of the person to be transported and use the medical information, thereby improving a lifesaving rate.

According to the technology disclosed in Reference Literature 1, in order to acquire the medical information of the person to be transported (medical examinee) from the collection server, it is essential to input identification information (information represented by characters or numbers) of the person to be transported. Therefore, if the person to be transported forgets the identification information, it is difficult to acquire the medical information from the collection server. Further, if a note on which the identification information (information represented by characters or numbers) is written or an object that holds the identification information is lost, the medical information may be leaked.

Reference Literature 1 describes a case where the identification information cannot be obtained from the medical examinee because, for example, the medical examinee is in poor physical condition. According to the technology disclosed in Reference Literature 1, it is essential to input the identification information in order to acquire the medical information from the collection server, and therefore, in a case where the identification information cannot be obtained from the medical examinee, the identification information needs to be acquired from a person other than the medical examinee. In such a case, it takes time and effort for the ambulance crew to acquire the identification information from a person other than the medical examinee.

In order to solve the above problems, as an example aspect of an ambulance service support device according to the present invention, the ambulance service support device includes a processor configured to:

Further, as an example aspect of an ambulance service support method according to the present invention, the ambulance service support method causes

Furthermore, as an example aspect of a program storage medium according to the present invention, the program storage medium stores a computer program for causing a computer to execute processing of:

Hereinafter, example embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

schematically illustrates an ambulance service support system according to a first example embodiment of the present invention. An ambulance service support systemaccording to the first example embodiment is a system that supports an ambulance crewby providing information on medical care of a person to be transported (sick and injured person) at an emergency transport site. That is, in the ambulance service support system, for example, an image of a face that is biological information of the person to be transported is captured by the ambulance crewby using a camera provided in smart glassesthat are a wearable device, and the captured face image is transmitted to an ambulance service support device. The ambulance service support deviceidentifies personal medical information of the person to be transported in a databaseby using the received face image and returns emergency support information based on the identified personal medical information to a sender of the face image. Therefore, for example, the emergency support information is displayed on a display device that is a notification device provided in the smart glasses.

The personal medical information stored in the databaseis information on medical care of a person and includes not only basic information such as a name, a date of birth, and an address but also medical information obtained when a medical institution such as a hospital or pharmacy is used. The medical information includes information known by a medical worker, such as a name of his/her regular medical institution, a name of a doctor in charge, whether he/she has a chronic disease or takes chronic medicine, his/her medical history, whether he/she has allergies, and whether he/she has a mental disorder. The personal medical information may further include information on an intention of becoming an organ donor or information on an intention of receiving life-prolonging treatments.

The personal medical information also includes biological information that can be used for personal identification. Examples of the biological information that can be used for personal identification include a plurality of pieces of biological information such as a face, fingerprint, iris, vein, palm print, and ear shape. One or a plurality of pieces of biological information may be appropriately selected from those pieces of biological information and may be included in the personal medical information. In the first example embodiment, the personal medical information in the databaseis searched for by using the biological information, and therefore the biological information is included in the personal medical information in consideration of this. That is, the biological information of the person to be transported is acquired in order to obtain the personal medical information at an emergency transport site, and therefore, in consideration of easiness of acquiring the biological information at this time, an image of a face (face image) is included in the personal medical information as the biological information.

In order to acquire the image of the face that is the biological information included in the personal medical information described above, an imaging device (camera) is used as described above as an acquisition device that acquires the biological information from the person to be transported. Herein, the smart glassesare provided with an imaging device, and this makes it possible to improve a degree of freedom of action of the ambulance crew, as compared with a case where the ambulance crewoperates the imaging device with his/her hands. The display device serving as the notification device that makes notification of the emergency support information transmitted from the ambulance service support deviceis also provided in the same smart glassesas the imaging device. Therefore, the ambulance crewcan view the emergency support information while seeing a state of the person to be transported through the smart glasses. Thus, it is unnecessary to take his/her eyes off the person to be transported and see a screen of the display device in order to view the emergency support information.

The emergency support information transmitted from the ambulance service support deviceis information based on the personal medical information in the database, and information assumed to be effective for the ambulance crewat an emergency transport site is selected in advance from the personal medical information and is included in the emergency support information. Specific examples of the information included in the emergency support information include basic information such as a name, a date of birth, and an address and information such as whether the person to be transported has allergies, whether he/she has a disease under treatment, whether he/she has a mental disorder, a chronic disease, and chronic medicine.

Hereinafter, a configuration of the ambulance service support systemaccording to the first example embodiment will be described in detail.is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the ambulance service support systemaccording to the first example embodiment. The ambulance service support systemof the first example embodiment includes the ambulance service support device, the imaging device (acquisition device), and a display device (notification device).

In the first example embodiment, the imaging deviceand the display deviceare provided in the smart glassesas described above. The imaging deviceand the display deviceare connected to a control terminalby, for example, wireless communication and are controlled by the control terminal. The control terminalis, for example, a computer device that can be carried by the ambulance crewor is installed in an ambulanceon which the ambulance crewrides and is connected to the ambulance service support devicevia, for example, an information communication network.

The control terminalincludes a control unitincluding a processor such as a central processing unit (CPU). Operation of the imaging deviceand the display deviceis controlled by the control unit. For example, upon receipt of an image capturing instruction in a state in which the imaging devicecan capture a face image of the person to be transported, the control unitcauses the imaging deviceto execute an image capturing operation. Therefore, the imaging devicecaptures the face image of the person to be transported. Further, the control unittransmits the image captured by the imaging deviceto the ambulance service support device. At this time, in a case where the captured image including the face image obtained by the imaging deviceis transmitted to the ambulance service support devicein order to obtain the emergency support information, the control unitalso transmits, for example, an instruction to request the emergency support information. Further, upon receipt of notification information indicating contents of notification from the ambulance service support device, the control unitcauses the display deviceto display the received notification information. One piece of the notification information is the emergency support information described above.

There are various configurations of the smart glasses, and there are various methods of controlling the imaging deviceand the display device. The configuration of the smart glassesand the methods of controlling the imaging deviceand the display deviceare not particularly limited herein, and description thereof is omitted. The control unitmay have a voice recognition function, i.e., may analyze an audio signal from a microphone provided in the control terminalor the smart glasses, recognize an instruction issued from the ambulance crew, and control an operation in accordance with the instruction. For example, in a case where the control unitrecognizes a voice instruction to “capture an image of his/her face” from the ambulance crew, the control unitdetermines that an image capturing instruction has been received and causes the imaging deviceto execute an image capturing operation. In a case where the control unitrecognizes a voice instruction to “display the captured image” from the ambulance crew, the control unitcauses the display deviceto display the captured image obtained by the imaging device. In a case where the control unitrecognizes a voice instruction to “transmit the captured image” from the ambulance crew, the control unittransmits the captured image obtained by the imaging deviceto the ambulance service support device. In a case where the control unitrecognizes a voice instruction to “display his/her name” from the ambulance crewafter the captured image is transmitted, the control unitcauses the display deviceto display information on the name from the information included in the emergency support information received from the ambulance service support device.

The ambulance service support deviceis a computer device (e.g., server). The ambulance service support deviceis connected to the databaseand can read the personal medical information stored in the database. In a case where information on a treatment performed on the person to be transported is input, the ambulance service support devicecan add the input information to the personal medical information of the person to be transported in the database. The ambulance service support deviceis connected to the imaging deviceand the display devicevia the control terminalas described above.

The ambulance service support deviceincludes a processorand a storage device. The storage deviceincludes a storage medium that stores data and a program. There are various kinds of storage devices. Specifically, there are multiple kinds of storage devices such as a magnetic disk device and a semiconductor memory element, and there are multiple kinds of semiconductor memory elements such as a random access memory (RAM) and a read only memory (ROM). The kind of the storage deviceincluded in the ambulance service support deviceis not limited to one, and multiple kinds of storage devicesare included in the ambulance service support devicein many cases. The kind and number of the storage devicesprovided in the ambulance service support deviceare not limited herein, and description thereof is omitted. In a case where multiple kinds of storage devicesare included in the ambulance service support device, those storage devices will be collectively referred to as the storage device.

The processorillustrated inincludes, for example, one or a plurality of processors such as a central processing unit (CPU) and a graphics processing unit (GPU). The processorreads and executes the programstored in the storage deviceand can therefore have various functions based on the program. In the first example embodiment, the processorincludes a reception unit, an identification unit, and a transmission unitas functional units.

The reception unitreceives the captured image captured by the imaging device. The reception unitstores information on the captured image in the storage device.

In a case where the identification unitreceives an instruction to request the emergency support information from the control terminaland the captured image received by the reception unitincludes an image of the face that is the biological information of the person to be transported, the identification unitsearches the databaseby using the image of the face as a search key. Then, the identification unitidentifies, in the database, the personal medical information including a face image matching with the image of the face serving as the search key. There are various methods of extracting a face image from a captured image, such as a method using a face pattern. Herein, an appropriate method is adopted in consideration of a throughput of the ambulance service support device, a resolution of the captured image transmitted from the imaging device, or the like. A method of searching for (identifying) the personal medical information in the databaseby using the image of the face as the search key is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include the following methods. For example, the identification unitmay directly search for the personal medical information by using the image of the face as the search key or may search for the personal medical information as follows. For example, data of face images associated with personal identifications (IDs) is stored in the database, and personal medical information relevant to the face images are also associated with the same personal IDs. The identification unitacquires a personal ID associated with data of a face image having high similarity to the image of the face serving as the search key and searches for (identifies) personal medical information relevant to the image of the face serving as the search key by using the acquired personal ID.

The transmission unitreturns the emergency support information based on the personal medical information identified by the identification unitto the control terminalthat has transmitted the image of the face used to search for the personal medical information. The emergency support information is information for supporting the ambulance crewand, as described above, includes information assumed to be effective for the ambulance crewat an emergency transport site among pieces of the personal medical information.

In the first example embodiment, the emergency support information is displayed by the display deviceof the smart glassesin an information display area Z in a visual fieldobtained in a case where the ambulance crewlooks straight forward as illustrated in. The information display area Z is set to a visual field portion that does not interrupt an activity of the ambulance crewwearing the smart glasses. The emergency support information is displayed in the information display area Z by using characters, marks, and symbols, and the size of the characters, marks, and symbols is set so that the information is clearly transmitted to the ambulance crew. An amount of information that can be displayed in the information display area Z at one time is limited depending on the size of the characters, marks, and symbols set as described above. Therefore, in the first example embodiment, a plurality of pieces of information included in the emergency support information transmitted from the transmission unitis associated with information on priority regarding display. Alternatively, relationship data between the plurality of pieces of information included in the emergency support information and priority regarding display of the information is given to the control terminal.

The control terminalthat has received the emergency support information from the transmission unitcauses the display deviceto display pieces of information among the plurality of pieces of information included in the received emergency support information in descending order of priority in a predetermined display mode. The information displayed by the display deviceis not limited to one by one, and a plurality of pieces of information may be displayed in parallel.

illustrates an example of the emergency support information displayed by the display device. In the example of, as described above, pieces of information among the plurality of pieces of information included in the emergency support information are displayed by the display devicein descending order of priority of display. Information of which the ambulance crewshould be notified in particular is highlighted.

The ambulance service support systemand the ambulance service support deviceaccording to the first example embodiment are configured as described above. Next, an operation example where the ambulance service support deviceprovides (makes notification of) the emergency support information will be described with reference to.is a flowchart showing an operation example where the ambulance service support deviceprovides (makes notification of) the emergency support information.

For example, when the reception unitof the ambulance service support devicereceives a captured image obtained by the imaging deviceand an instruction to request emergency support information from the control terminal(stepin), the identification unitextracts an image of a face (face image) from the captured image (step). Thereafter, the identification unitsearches the databaseby using the extracted face image as a search key (step). Therefore, the identification unitidentifies personal medical information including a face image matching with the face image serving as the search key (step). Then, the transmission unittransmits (returns) emergency support information based on the identified personal medical information to the control terminalthat has requested the emergency support information (step).

The control terminalthat has received the emergency support information transmitted as described above notifies (provides) the ambulance crewof (with) the emergency support information by controlling a display operation of the display device.

The ambulance service support systemand the ambulance service support deviceaccording to the first example embodiment can provide the ambulance crewwith the emergency support information based on the personal medical information by using the face image of the person to be transported captured at an emergency transport site. Therefore, even in a case where information useful for emergency transport cannot be obtained from the person to be transported, the ambulance crewcan easily obtain the emergency support information based on the personal medical information by capturing the face image and transmitting the face image to the ambulance service support device.

The ambulance service support systemand the ambulance service support deviceidentify the personal medical information of the person to be transported in the databaseby using the face image, instead of using the identification information (information represented by characters or numbers) of the personal medical information. Therefore, the ambulance service support systemand the ambulance service support devicecan avoid a problem of an increase in time and effort of the ambulance crewcaused by identifying the personal medical information by using the identification information (information represented by characters or numbers) and can also avoid a concern of information leakage.

That is, even in a situation in which information cannot be obtained from the person to be transported at an emergency transport site, the ambulance service support systemand the ambulance service support devicecan present the medical information of the person to be transported effective for the ambulance crew, without increasing time and effort of the ambulance crew.

In the first example embodiment, the display deviceis provided in the ambulance service support systemas the notification device. However, in addition to the display device, a voice notification device that makes notification of the emergency support information with voice may also be provided as the notification device. Further, in a case where the personal medical information in the databaseincludes information on an intention of becoming an organ donor or an intention of receiving life-prolonging treatments, such information may also be transmitted from the ambulance service support deviceto the control terminalas information included in the emergency support information.

Hereinafter, a second example embodiment according to the present invention will be described. In description of the second example embodiment, portions having the same names as the names used in the description of the ambulance service support systemand the ambulance service support deviceaccording to the first example embodiment are denoted by the same reference signs, and repeated description of the same portions will be omitted.

In the second example embodiment, the ambulance service support deviceincludes a notification unitas illustrated inin addition to the configuration of the first example embodiment. The personal medical information in the databaseincludes an email address that is information on an emergency contact destination or information relevant to the email address. Examples of the information relevant to the email address include contact information in a short message service (SMS) and contact information in a communication application.omits illustration of the storage deviceand the reception unit, the identification unit, and the transmission unitof the processorin the ambulance service support device.

The notification unit, as well as the reception unit, the identification unit, and the transmission unit, is one of functional units achieved by the processorby the processorexecuting a program regarding the notification unit. Upon receipt of an instruction to contact an emergency contact destination, the notification unittransmits a notification to notify the emergency contact destination of a state of a person to be transported. The instruction to contact the emergency contact destination is issued, for example, from the control terminalby an operation of the ambulance crew. At this time, for example, information such as a name of a medical institution to which the person to be transported is transported is output from the control terminal. The notification unittransmits a notification using a fixed phrase that tells the state of the person to be transported, such as “Mr./Ms. ∘∘∘ has been transported to the ΔΔΔΔ hospital. Contact information of the ΔΔΔΔ hospital is ***-***-****.”, to the emergency contact destination included in the personal medical information of the person to be transported. The configurations other than the above in the ambulance service support systemand the ambulance service support deviceof the second example embodiment are similar to those of the first example embodiment, and description thereof is omitted herein.

The ambulance service support systemand the ambulance service support deviceof the second example embodiment have similar configurations to those of the first example embodiment and can therefore have a similar effect to that of the first example embodiment. The ambulance service support deviceof the second example embodiment includes the notification unitand can therefore transmit a notification that tells the state of the person to be transported to the emergency contact destination of the person to be transported.

Hereinafter, a third example embodiment according to the present invention will be described. In description of the third example embodiment, portions having the same names as the names used in the description of the ambulance service support systemand the ambulance service support deviceaccording to the first or second example embodiment are denoted by the same reference signs, and repeated description of the same portions will be omitted.

In the third example embodiment, the ambulance service support deviceincludes an information provision unitas illustrated inin addition to the configuration of the first or second example embodiment.omits illustration of the storage deviceand the reception unit, the identification unit, and the transmission unitof the processorin the ambulance service support device.

The information provision unit, as well as the reception unit, the identification unit, and the transmission unit, is one of functional units achieved by the processorby the processorexecuting a program regarding the information provision unit. Upon receipt of transport destination information indicating a transport destination of the person to be transported, the information provision unittransmits the image of the face that is the acquired biological information to the transport destination by using the transport destination information. The transport destination information indicating the transport destination of the person to be transported is issued, for example, from the control terminalby an operation of the ambulance crew. The storage deviceof the ambulance service support deviceor the databasestores information (e.g., an email address or information relevant to the email address) regarding a destination to which the information is sent, the destination being of a medical institution to which the person to be transported may be transported. The information provision unittransmits the biological information (face image) of the person to be transported by using the information regarding the destination of the medical institution.

The configurations other than the above in the ambulance service support systemand the ambulance service support deviceof the third example embodiment are similar to those of the first or second example embodiment, and description thereof is omitted herein.

The ambulance service support systemand the ambulance service support deviceof the third example embodiment have similar configurations to those of the first example embodiment and can therefore have a similar effect to that of the first example embodiment. The ambulance service support deviceof the third example embodiment includes the information provision unitand can therefore transmit the biological information (face image) of the person to be transported to the medical institution serving as the transport destination. Therefore, for example, the medical institution serving as the transport destination can prevent mix-ups of accepted patients.

The present invention is not limited to the first to third example embodiments, and various example embodiments can be adopted. For example, in the first to third example embodiments, the imaging deviceand the display deviceare provided in the smart glasses. Instead of this, for example, an imaging device and a display device provided in the control terminalmay function as the imaging deviceand the display deviceincluded in the ambulance service support system.

In the first to third example embodiments, an image of a face is acquired as biological information used to acquire the personal medical information. However, biological information other than the image of the face may be used. In this case, the acquisition device is a device having a configuration for acquiring the biological information in accordance with the biological information and is not limited to the imaging device.

In the first to third example embodiments, the personal medical information is acquired by using biological information. However, for example, a configuration capable of reading the personal medical information from the databaseby using a digital identification (ID) may be provided on the assumption that, for example, a medical worker desires to browse the personal medical information by using the ambulance service support devicewith the consent of the person.

In addition to the configurations of the first to third example embodiments, the ambulance service support devicemay include an inquiry unitas indicated by a dotted line in. The inquiry unitis a functional unit that inquires of a possible medical institution to which the person to be transported (emergency patient) may be transported as to whether transport of the person to be transported is acceptable. For example, the storage devicestores, in advance, medical institution contact information data including names of medical institutions capable of accepting emergency patients and contact information of the medical institutions. When the identification unitidentifies the personal medical information of the person to be transported, the inquiry unitdetermines whether a name of the person's regular medical institution included in the personal medical information is included in the medical institution contact information data. Then, in a case where the name of the person's regular medical institution is included in the medical institution contact information data, the inquiry unitinquires of the person's regular medical institution serving as a possible medical institution to which the person to be transported may be transported as to whether transport of the person to be transported is acceptable by a predetermined contact method by using the medical institution contact information data.

Alternatively, the inquiry unitmay inquire whether transport of the person to be transported is acceptable by using disease-related information included in the personal medical information of the person to be transported, such as a chronic disease, chronic medicine, and a medical history, and information on a current symptom of the person to be transported. In this case, for example, the medical institution contact information data in the storage deviceis associated with not only the contact information of the medical institutions but also information on acceptable disease names and addresses of the medical institutions. The inquiry unithas a function of selecting an appropriate medical institution for the person to be transported by using, for example, artificial intelligence (AI) technology on the basis of the disease-related information of the person to be transported, the information on the current symptom of the person to be transported, and information on a location of an emergency transport site.

Alternatively, the inquiry unitmay inquire of a possible medical institution to which the person to be transported may be transported, the medical institution having been selected on the basis of bed availability, as to whether transport of the person to be transported is acceptable. In this case, for example, the inquiry unitselects a possible medical institution to which the person may be transported based on a position of the emergency transport site from the medical institution contact information data described above and acquires bed availability of the possible medical institution to which the person may be transported. Then, the inquiry unitinquires of the possible medical institution to which the person may be transported, the medical institution having been determined to have a bed available on the basis of the acquired bed availability, as to whether transport of the person to be transported is acceptable.